The present invention relates to a dubbing apparatus and a dubbing method, which are capable of protecting a copyright by typically execution of a management function for program data to be dubbed.
In recent years, a CD (Compact Disc) player functioning as a playback apparatus capable of playing back data from a CD has been becoming widely popular. In addition, disc media such an MD (mini disc), which audio data is recorded and played back, and a recording/playback apparatus for such disc media have also been becoming very popular as well.
Furthermore, there is also popularized an audio system, which is a combination of, among other components, a CD player and an MD recorder/player serving as a recording/playback apparatus for an MD.
By the way, in a system such as the CD player and the MD recorder/player, audio data is controlled in units each referred to as the so-called program. The technical term program used in this specification means a data group recorded on a disc and controlled as a unit. In the case of audio data, for example, a program corresponds to a piece of music. A program is also referred to hereafter as a track. Thus, in general, a piece of music is also called a track.
Generally, in an audio system like the one described above, audio data played back from a CD by a CD player can be recorded into an MD by an MD recorder/player in a process known as dubbing recording.
There is also a system capable of carrying out the so-called high-speed dubbing in order to shorten the recoding time.
In high-speed dubbing, a disc-rotation driving control system or a playback-signal-processing system employed in the CD player is controlled so as to play back audio data from a CD at a predetermined multiple-time speed, which is higher than the normal playback speed. At the same time, a recording-signal-processing system employed in the MD recorder/player is also controlled so that the system operates at a multiple-time speed corresponding to the multiple playback speed of the CD to receive the audio data played back by the CD player and record it onto an MD.
In an integrated apparatus including a CD player as a playback unit and an MD recorder/player as a recording unit, for example, it is easy to execute control for the high-speed dubbing described above so that the CD player and the MD recorder/player operate at the same time at a predetermined multiple-time speed. Even in a separate-component system with a playback apparatus provided separately from a recording apparatus, the playback apparatus can be connected to the recording apparatus by using typically a control cable to form a configuration in which the playback apparatus is capable of communicating with the recording apparatus. In such a configuration, the high-speed dubbing can be implemented with ease by synchronously controlling the operations of the playback apparatus connected to the recording apparatus.
However, a dubbing operation generates a copy of data of a musical work or the like produced by the author such as a song and thus infringes the right of the author. A dubbing operation should thus be handled as an action to be avoided whenever possible. By carrying out high-speed dubbing, however, the number of tracks that can be dubbed per time unit is greater than that obtained from the normal 1-time-speed dubbing.
Thus, the user is capable of copying a CD or a track recorded on a CD to a number of MDs exceeding a range of private use judged to be normal by a common sense and using the MDs each containing a copy for some purposes.
If the user is allowed to carry out high-speed dubbing, the user is capable of copying a CD or a track recorded on a CD to a number of MDs during a shorter period of time more and in a more efficient way than the normal 1-time-speed dubbing. That is to say, on the other side of the coin, high-speed dubbing promotes infringement upon a copyright.
In order to solve this problem, a standard called an HCMS (High-speed Copy Management System) is proposed.
In accordance with the HCMS standard, when a digital musical source such as a CD is copied to media such as an MD in high-speed dubbing, the next high-speed dubbing of a track completing high-speed dubbing as a piece of music is prohibited during a period of at least 74 minutes following a point of time at which high-speed dubbing of the track was started. The prohibition period of high-speed dubbing is set at 74 minutes because the maximum total nominal playback time of a CD is 74 minutes. Since high-speed dubbing of a track is prohibited during a period of time required to play back a CD, a dubbing efficiency per track is about equal to that of one-time-speed dubbing. If a dubbing apparatus is designed to restrict high-speed dubbing in accordance with the HCMS as described above, the user is allowed to carry out dubbing within a range not infringing the copyright of the author. It should be noted that specifications of an apparatus having a dubbing function can be determined arbitrarily as long as the specifications do not violate the standard.
The following is an example of a generally conceivable operation to restrict high-speed dubbing in accordance with the HCMS standard.
Assume that a disc serving as a source of dubbing has recorded data like that shown in FIG. 1A. As shown in the figure, the disc contains 5 recorded tracks Tr1 to Tr5. The user has already dubbed only the track Tr3 at a high speed at a previous predetermined time. Thus, the track Tr3 is set as an object of HCMS management. That is to say, next high-speed dubbing is prohibited till a period of 74 minutes lapses since the start of the high-speed dubbing carried out at the previous predetermined time. It should be noted that the other 4 tracks Tr1, Tr2, Tr4 and Tr5 are not objects of the HCMS management so that each of them can be dubbed at a high speed at any other time.
Assume that, in an attempt to carry out dubbing of all tracks recorded on the CD shown in FIG. 1A under such a circumstance, the user starts high-speed dubbing by commencing a playback operation beginning with the track Tr1 on the CD as shown in FIG. 1B. It should be noted that the tracks Tr1 to Tr5 on the CD are played back sequentially in a track-number order.
In this case, the tracks Tr1 and Tr2 can be dubbed at a high speed sequentially since they are not objects of the HCMS management. At the end of the high-speed dubbing of the track Tr2, the operation enters a subsequent stage to dub the track Tr3, which is an object of the HCMS management. When a high-speed dubbing operation reaches a time to dub a track serving as an object of the HCMS management during a process of high-speed dubbing according to a track playback order of the CD as described above, however, the high-speed dubbing operation is discontinued to prevent the subsequent dubbing and recording process from being carried out.
By carrying out the operation as described above, the track under control of the HCMS management at the present time is not subjected to high-speed dubbing. That is to say, an operation conforming to the HCMS rule is performed.
With the restrictive specifications of the high-speed dubbing described above, however, the recording operation itself to dub tracks is halted so that the tracks Tr4 and Tr5 are not subjected to high-speed dubbing after the track Tr3 of the above example in accordance with the playback order as shown in FIG. 1B in spite of the fact that the tracks Tr4 and Tr5 are not objects of the HCMS management.
Such a restriction of the dubbing function is unreasonable for the user and becomes an excessive disturbance of the convenience of the dubbing function. To put it concretely, if a particular piece of music taken as an object of HCMS management is found among a plurality of pieces of music during sequential high-speed dubbing of the pieces of music, control is executed to halt the high-speed dubbing at a point of time an attempt is made to dub the particular piece of music and to discontinue the dubbing operation itself, raising a problem of inhibition of the operation to dub the particular piece of music taken as an object of HCMS management and subsequent pieces of music following the object of HCMS management.
It is thus an object of the present invention addressing the problems described above to prevent the freedom to use an apparatus having a dubbing function from being disturbed while taking protection of the copyright of the author into consideration.
To achieve the above object, according to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a dubbing apparatus capable of selecting either a predetermined-speed dubbing mode or a high-speed dubbing mode allowing dubbing of data to be carried out within a period of time shorter than that of the predetermined-speed dubbing mode in an operation to record data played back from a first recording medium for recording data controlled in program units into a second recording medium, the dubbing apparatus including time-measuring means for measuring the lapse of time, time-measurement control means for requesting the time-measuring means to start a time measurement for a particular piece of data selected from pieces of data recorded on the first recording medium and controlled in program units to undergo high-speed dubbing, time-information storage means for storing time information produced by the time-measuring means for a particular piece of data selected from the pieces of data recorded on the first recording medium and controlled in program units to undergo high-speed dubbing, operation means for selecting a particular piece of data desired by the user as an object of high-speed dubbing from the pieces of data recorded on the first recording medium and controlled in program units; and control means for referencing time information stored in the time-information storage means for a particular piece of data selected by the operation means as desired by the user as an object of high-speed dubbing and for switching from the predetermined-speed dubbing mode to the high-speed dubbing mode or vice versa in accordance with the referenced time information.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a dubbing apparatus capable of selecting either a predetermined-speed dubbing mode or a high-speed dubbing mode allowing dubbing of data to be carried out within a period of time shorter than that of the predetermined-speed dubbing mode in an operation to record data played back from a first recording medium for recording data controlled in program units into a second recording medium, the dubbing apparatus including information storage means for storing information associated with one of the pieces of data stored in the first recording medium and used for indicating whether or not the piece of data associated with the information has been subjected to high-speed dubbing during a predetermined period of time in the past with the present point of time taken as a reference, high-speed-dubbing-judging means for forming a judgment as to whether or not a piece of data stored on the first recording medium and specified to undergo high-speed dubbing has been subjected to high-speed dubbing during a predetermined period of time in the past with the present point of time taken as a reference on the basis of information stored in the information storage unit and associated with the piece of data, and recording control means for assigning pending status to high-speed dubbing of a piece of data stored on the first recording medium and judged by the high-speed-dubbing-judging means to be a piece of data subjected to high-speed dubbing during a predetermined period of time in the past with the present point of time taken as a reference and for implementing high-speed dubbing of a piece of data stored on the first recording medium and judged by the high-speed-dubbing-judging means to be a piece of data not subjected to high-speed dubbing during a predetermined period of time in the past with the present point of time taken as a reference on a priority basis.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a dubbing-processing method for prohibiting high-speed dubbing of a program stored on a first recording medium and subjected to high-speed dubbing during a predetermined period of time in the past with the present point of time taken as a reference till the end of the lapse of the predetermined period of time as a reaction to a command to again carry out high-speed dubbing on the program, the dubbing-processing method including the steps of forming a judgment as to whether or not a program stored in the first recording medium and specified to undergo high-speed dubbing is an object of high-speed-dubbing prohibition, and permitting predetermined-speed dubbing of a program stored in the first recording medium, specified to undergo high-speed dubbing and judged to be an object of high-speed-dubbing prohibition.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a dubbing-processing method for carrying out sequential high-speed dubbing on a program stored on a first recording medium to a second recording medium in a dubbing apparatus prohibiting high-speed dubbing of a program stored on a first recording medium and subjected to high-speed dubbing during a predetermined period of time in the past with the present point of time taken as a reference till the end of the lapse of the predetermined period of time as a reaction to a command to again carry out high-speed dubbing on the program, the dubbing-processing method including the steps of sequentially forming a judgment as to whether or not a program stored in the first recording medium and specified to undergo high-speed dubbing is an object of high-speed-dubbing prohibition, assigning pending status to high-speed dubbing of a program stored on the first recording medium, specified to undergo high-speed dubbing and judged to be an object of high-speed-dubbing prohibition and implementing high-speed dubbing of a program stored on the first recording medium, specified to undergo high-speed dubbing and judged to be not an object of high-speed-dubbing prohibition in the past on a priority basis, forming a judgment as to whether or not all programs each stored on the first recording medium and judged to be not an object of high-speed-dubbing prohibition have each completed high-speed dubbing to the second recording medium, and recording programs each stored on the first recording medium and judged to be an object of high-speed-dubbing prohibition onto the second recording medium starting with one of the programs having the lapse of the predetermined period of time completed upon completion of the high-speed dubbing of all programs each stored on the first recording medium and judged to be not an object of high-speed-dubbing prohibition to the second recording medium.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like parts or elements denoted by like reference symbols.